Lions stun Bulls at Ellis Park:
THE Lions dealt the Bulls’ Super Rugby ambitions a severe body blow here yesterday.
The Bulls, who along with the Waratahs were the only teams that carried the momentum of three successive victories into this weekend’s action, came unstuck against a side desperate to arrest a slide of seven back-toback defeats.
This was a gutsy performance from the Lions, who backed up their fervour and energy with a game plan that gifted the Bulls no favours. The Lions simply refused to be drawn into a tactical kicking contest, but when they kicked they did so with telling effect.
Again, flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff’s metronomic boot did the damage, this time contributing 22 points.
Poor discipline cost the Bulls in the opening 20 minutes and again in the second half, just as they seemed to wrest the initiative from the hosts.
Alwyn Hollenbach scored a try in the 47th minute which didn’t just earn the Lions some respite but it set them on an inexorable path to victory. For a team that had been under the pump the Lions even had time to dazzle, thanks largely to Faf de Klerk.
He sidestepped his way out of trouble from close to his own goal line and set in motion a sweeping move that had the crowd on its feet. The move looked in danger of ending as Elton Jantjies appeared to be out of options, but he found Stokkies Hanekom with an audacious flip back pass before Warwick Tecklenburg applied the finishing touch.
No 8 Warren Whiteley and flank Jaco Kriel were at their beaverish best as the Lions stuck to a fast-paced game plan that stretched the Bulls.
Boshoff got things going when he slotted his seventh drop goal of the season, this time a leftfooted effort that would have scored zero for artistic impression. Boshoff raised the flags with two penalties inside 10 minutes.
The Bulls’ heavy hitters gradually exacted a toll on the Lions’ first line of defence. The resultant momentum meant that the Bulls got a foothold in the game and the hosts were forced into conceding penalties.
The Lions’ woes were exacerbated as the Bulls decoded their lineout. Flip van der Merwe rose with intent to apply a spoiling hand to the Lions’ feeds and the Bulls were firmly in the ascendancy when Jacques-Louis Potgieter added his third penalty to level the score.
But while muscle memory from victories over the Cheetahs and Stormers helped the Bulls wipe out the deficit, there was no Victor Matfield to help galvanise the side.
Just after Potgieter levelled the scores, Grant Hattingh failed to collect the restart and Hollenbach secured the Lions’ win.